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AREA 11 – LANDING

Stairs curve up and down from this landing. Upon a wooden perch next to the staircase leading up, a clockwork raven sits.

CLOCKWORK RAVEN: Obsidian feathers and ruby eyes. It will turn its head to follow motion and cry out, “Who goes there?” if someone approaches the staircase leading up, but it’s a simple mechanical oddity. It cannot fly nor think.

AREA 12 – UPPER HALL

Two suits of decorative armor bearing the Vladaam heraldic crest on their chests stand at one end of this hall, flanking a door.

GM Background: These suits of animated armor (helmed horror, MM 2024, p. 166) used to stand at the Front Entrance where the pearl golems now stand. They were created several decades ago by Flambara of Ossyr when the Company of Red Magi was first founded, but their magic has severely decayed. They’ll falsely challenge even legitimate members of the guild, but can be easily be talked out of their challenges.

AREA 13 – ARCHMAGE CRETAI

A blue rug with arcane sigils stitched into it with silver thread fills the floor between a bookcase, a worktable of alchemical equipment, and a comfortable bed.

MEDUSA OF THE RINGS: On the worktable, almost directly opposite the door, there is a porcelain bust of a medusa’s head. The porcelain snakes framing her face are animate – writhing and twisting to look at anyone in the room.

• Rings: Eight of the snakes have beautifully crafted rings threaded onto them. Four are magical: ring of climbing, ring of jumping, ring of protection, ring of sustenance. Four are nonmagical, but very beautiful: a fire opal carved to resemble a basilisk (460 gp); a ring of jagged orange quartz (10 gp); a ring of black metal set with three opals (150 gp); a ring of goldleaf wood (2,500 gp; a pale ivory laced with veins that glitter like gold).

WORKTABLE: Cretai has a pair of goggles of minute seeing. He is attempting to modify the goggles alchemically to produce goggles of true seeing (without needing the arcane puissance to cast a true seeing spell), but his efforts have so far come to naught.

• A Guidance from Renn Sadar to the Archmage Cretai
• DM Background: Cretai acts as an agent for Renn Sadar (Ptolus, p. XX). Sadar funnels research abandoned by the Inverted Pyramid as being too dark or too dangerous to the Red Company of Magi through Cretai; Cretai sees to it that the secrets of the Red Company (and also the Vladaams) are fed back to Renn Sadar.

BOOKCASE: Contains lore concerning the Ethereal Plane. Offers a +4 bonus to any related Intelligence checks.

• Search – DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation): To find an everfull purse hidden in a hollow book.

Ring of Climbing (Uncommon): This ring grants the wearer a climbing speed equal to their normal speed.

Everfull Purse (Rare): This leather belt pouch has the power turn a single gold coin into many overnight. If a single gold piece is placed in the everfull purse at sunset, it will be replaced at sunrise by 25 gold pieces. The purse has no effect if more than one gold piece is left within, or if anything other than gold is placed with in.

AREA 14 – ARCHMAGE VERACK

This room is dominated by a luxurious red-and-gold rug depicting two dragons chasing each others’ tails in orbit around a blazing sunburst. Bookshelves line one wall of the room and a writing desk is positioned under the window.

BOOKS: A detailed and esoteric collection of dragon lore, notably including Lore of the Wyrmhoards in the Mountains of the East, granting advantage to any appropriate knowledge-based Intelligence checks.

WRITING DESK: Empty except for some blank sheets of paper and well-stoppered vials of ink. In one drawer there is a polished silver mirror with a single large crack running through it; the crack is blackened as if it had been caused by an intense flame, but the rest of the mirror is unharmed.

• DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana): This sort of mirror is used for scrying
• DC 22 Intelligence (Arcana): This sort of damage would be caused by a scrying spell encountering an overwhelming defense against scrying or an intense source of power.

SEARCH – DC 10 Intelligence (Investigate): There’s a definite layer of dust, a staleness to the sheets, and a general sense of disuse about the room. No one has been living in this room for at least several weeks.

SEARCH – DC 20 Intelligence (Investigate): There’s a hidden compartment under the rug containing:

• +1 dragon rifle
• mithril shirt
• scroll of ray of enfeeblement
• scroll of finger of death
• scroll of shocking grasp
• longsword in a scabbard of black leather with a dragon head of copper at its tip (see below)

SCABBARD – DC 10 Intelligence (Investigate) / DC 24 Wisdom (Perception): The scabbard is longer than the sword it holds. The tip is false and contains a ring of dragonform.

Ring of Dragonform (Rare): Fashioned from copper, this full finger ring is fashioned like a dragon’s claw. Once per day, the wearer may use an action to transform into either a young copper dragon (if the wearer is good) or young red dragon (if the wearer is evil). (A neutral wearer may choose which dragon form they are most akin to, but thereafter can only choose that form when using the ring.) This effect functions as a true polymorph spell.

GM Background: Verack is currently in the Imperial capital city of Trolone engaged in various arcane research.

AREA 15 – BALCONY

The doors from this balcony are arcane locked and have alarms on them (mental alarm, triggered to either Guildmaster Arzan or, for the door to Area 14, the Archmage Verack).

Note: This means that opening the door to Area 14 will effectively NOT trigger an alarm because Verack is too far away to receive it.

AREA 16 – ALIASTER’S SCULPTURES

Glass doors look out onto the balcony (Area 15), in addition to the double doors of oak leading to Area 12 and the small side door to the Apprentice Laboratory (Area 17). There are five pieces of sculpture on marble plinths located around the perimeter of the hall.

BALCONY DOORS: These doors are arcane locked and has an alarm on them (mental alarm, triggered to Guildmaster Arzan).

SCULPTURES: Each sculpture is marked with Aliaster’s arcane sigil. One of the sculptures is signed with the name “Aliaster.” (All of these sculptures were, of course, created by Aliaster Vladaam.)

Aliaster’s Arcane Sigil

SCULPTURE 1: A beautiful, nude maiden has been half exposed from an unfinished chunk of marble which is still half unhewn and rough. Her hair, which hangs down over her face (obscuring her visage entirely), is of elfin gold (flexible and pliant) and possessed of an enchantment which causes it to stir slightly as if caught in the breeze.

Every few minutes, the “breeze” picks up, causing the hair to sweep aside and reveal – for only the briefest of moments – the hideous, demonic, skull-like visage of the maiden’s face.

SCULPTURE 2: A massive, muscular arm thrusts up from the surface of the plinth. If anyone draws near, the arm will reach out plaintively towards them.

SCULPTURE 3: A simple bust of white stone, depicting the thoughtful visage of a beautiful woman. The plinth is labeled “Flambara, the Eternal Flame of My Heart.” (Use Philippe Faraut’s Guardian as a visual reference.)

SCULPTURE 4: Another simple bust of white stone, this one labeled “Nulara Aretari.” (Use Philippe Faraut’s Child of Senegal for visual reference.)

SCULPTURE 5: A sculpture of an ent sitting upon a rotting log, looking down in enigmatic thought upon the splayed body of a dead dryad. The ent’s leaves are enchanted so that they sway gently in an unseen wind.

AREA 17 – APPRENTICE LABORATORY

Multiple tables filled with a chaotic assortment of equipment and tools fill the walls and center of this room.

APPRENTICE WORK: The apprentices are currently being instructed on feather tokens. There is a completed anchor feather token and partially finished anchor feather token, bird feather token, and whip feather token.

There’s approximately 4,000 gp worth of miscellaneous equipment. Of particular note are two vials of universal solvent.

DM Background: This laboratory is used by the Vladaam Mages and Researchers. The Archmages and Guildmaster instruct them here or them crank out minor magical items according to the Guild’s needs.

AREA 18 – ARCHMAGES IMOGEN & ALDWYCK

A utilitarian chamber with two modest beds against opposite walls, flanking a pair of matching worktables. Next to one of the worktables is the partially constructed form of an iron statue. Its head lies on the table next to it.

FIRST WORKTABLE – IRON STATUE: This is actually a partially completed iron golem. Aldwyck is attempting to complete it in order to impress the other Archmages, but he’s bitten off more than he’s actually capable of.

• Iron Head: The head will blink and turn to look at anyone approaching the table. It will attempt to form words, but can say nothing.
• On the Table: An incomplete iron golem manual. It includes a copy of the cloudkill spell and would have a market value of 6,000 gp.

SECOND WORKTABLE: A +2 battleaxe of dwarven make lies on the table. The enchantments on it, however, have been dissected and splayed out using ethereal pinions – glowing beams of blue energy stretch tautly between the pinions and the waraxe.

• Removing Pinions: Removing the pinions without disrupting the axe’s enchantments requires a DC 25 Intelligence (Arcana) check. Proficiency with Smith’s Tools grants a +5 bonus on this check. On a failure, the battleaxe is destroyed (rendering it a mundane weapon). Tool proficiency
• Battleaxe: The battleaxe originates from the forges of Dwarvenhearth.

SEARCH – DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation): There’s a polished silver mirror worth 1,000 gp under the pillows on one of the beds.

• DC 18 Intelligence (Arcana): This is a scrying

DM Background: Imogen and Aldwyck are lovers. They are also the two newest archmages among the Red Magi.

AREA 19 – APPRENTICE BUNKS & DINING HALL

This room serves as basically a boarding house for all of the Vladaam Mages and Vladaam Researchers in the guild.

The walls of this chamber are lined with bunk beds that are four high. A large table and rickety-looking chairs fill the middle of the room. The table is covered in dirty dishes in various phases of filth and vaguely organic growth.

BUNK BEDS: A total of twenty-four berths in six stacks of four-high bunk beds.

TREASURE: Secreted under mattresses, lying around on small side tables, kicked into a corner.

• large steel shield +1
• a fancy cloak of silver wolf fur (110 gp)
• ivory and silver carving service (310 gp)
• ornamental silver inkpot with blue quartz gems (100 gp)
• silver locket with platinum filigree depicting a rose (90 gp)
• pouch containing 199 pp
• potion of levitate (cursed; the possessor must eat twice as much as normal for a fortnight)
• a violet spinel (600 gp)

AREA 20 – LIBRARY & ARCANE CIRCLE

The library is well-stocked with arcane lore. Studies in this library benefit from a +2 bonus to Intelligence (Arcana) checks.

BOOKS: In addition to a copy of Hate of the Cobra, the library contains copies of the following chaos lorebooks:

• Lore of the Demon Court
• Mouth of the Void
• The Writhing Obelisk
• The Earthbound Demons
• The Magi of Chaos
• Book of the Elder Brood: Akop

ARCANE CIRCLE: Spells cast within the arcane circle are treated as if they had been cast with a spell slot one level higher than the one used by their caster.

AREA 21 – REAR BALCONY

This area is surprisingly poorly guarded.

AREA 22 – ARCHMAGE TIANT

This room dances to the tune of the many multi-colored magical flames which fill it: A huge pit of blue fire that shifts to purple and then to red and then to yellow and back around again fills the center of the chamber. Candle-less candelabras jut out from the wall, while other flames go cavorting around and through the jumbled cascade of magicl equipment, books, and haphazard worktables.

IRON LADDER: Leads up to a trapdoor in the ceiling about 20 feet up.

WORKTABLES – DC 20 Wisdom (Perception): To notice that the top of one of the worktables has a concealed key hole (DC 22 Dexterity (thieves’ tools)). If unlocked, the tabletop can be lifted to reveal a hidden storage chamber containing:

• Liquid Pain (12 doses) and Letter from Gattara to Tiant
• GM Background: Tiant and Gattara are occasional lovers.

WORKTABLE – DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana): To recognize that Tiant is currently creating a staff of fire. Unusually, he appears to be hollowing out the core of the staff and inscribing it with alchemical sigils linked by arcane runes.

• GM Background: Tiant plans to fill the hollow core of the staff of fire with liquid pain, resulting in the spells inside the staff being cast with a +2 spell slot level.

SEARCH – DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation): To detect a section of the wall brimming with magical potential. Pressing firmly against this magical potential causes a section of the wall to transform into a large, comfortable bed. Pressing the wall above the bed’s headboard causes the bed to re-merge with the wall.

AREA 23 – TOWER ROOF

A large apparatus of contorted metal and brass tubing has been erected on the roof.

APPARATUS – DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana): This is an etheric monitoring device. It maintains a connection with the Ethereal Plane and can be used to peer or scry into that plane.

AREA 24 – BASEMENT

A mummified corpse has been shackled to a wooden table in the corner of the basement. The rest of the room is piled high with an assortment of junk.

JUNK:

• a chest with a broken lid
• decayed clothing
• a jar of dead flies
• an alchemist’s kit (useless from age)
• a small ivory figurine that has been defaced past recognition
• wicker baskets with ripped out bottoms

MUMMY: The mummified corpse, however, is an actual mummy. Once part of some experiment, it was secured and then discarded down here with the rest of the junk.

Go to Part 13D: Red Magi Handouts

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AREA 1 – ENTRY HALL

The white marble floor of the entry hall is perforated with dozens of tiny holes.

PRESTIDIGITATION HALL: Anyone stepping onto the floor of this room will have dirt, grime, blood, or other filth sloughed off their bodies due to a permanent prestidigitation effect. The filth disappears down the holes in the floor.

• GM Background: The paving stones of similar function in the Temple of the Ebon Hand were commissioned from the Red Company of Magi.

AREA 2 – MAIN HALL

A cross-shaped crimson carpet runs across the width and breadth of this large hall, with one leg crossing from Area 1 to Area 9 and the other leg running from a pair of double doors flanked by statues (leading to Area 6). On the wall opposite the statues, a golden disc has been inlaid in the floor.

CARPET OF SERPENTS: The red carpet is embroidered with four snakes which twist and twine around each other. Any Red Magi can speak a command word which will cause the snakes in the carpet to become animate as fiendish giant constrictor snakes.

Fiendish Constrictors: Use giant constrictor snake stats (MM 2024, p. 351) with the following abilities:

• Devil’s Sight: The fiendish constrictor has darkvision 60 ft. which is not impeded by magical darkness.
• Damage Resistance Cold, Fire; Nonmagical Attacks That Aren’t Silvered
• Magic Resistance: The fiendish constrictor has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Fiendish Fangs: Bite attack is considered a magical weapon.

STATUES: One statue is of a strong, muscular man and purports to depict Vladaam, the founder of House Vladaam. The other depicts a beautiful woman in swirling robes holding an orb which glows with a faint blue light. This second statue has a plaque naming the woman Flambara of Ossyr.

• DC 16 Intelligence (History): Ossyr is the name of what was once one of the small Sea Kingdoms.
• GM Background: Flambara founded the Red Company of Magi with Aliaster in 691 IA and was his mistress. She was assassinated in 698 IA.

GOLDEN DISC: This disc displays an embossed map of the Empire, including the Whitewind and Southern Seas.

• True Seeing: Anyone looking at the disc with a see invisibility or true seeing effect will see small, glowing points of light which indicate the physical location of anyone carrying the badge of the Red Magi. Anyone touching the disc and naming someone with a Red Magi tattoo can contact them as per a sending spell and receive a response in return. Use of the disc while casting scrying on Red Magi causes inflicts a -5 penalty on their Will save against the scrying.
• Inscription: Engraved in an elegant script of Draconic around the perimeter of the disc. “A gift from the Red Company of Surveyors to our Brothers in the True Pursuit. Let us hold and send forth the eye of all knowledge.”

AREA 3 – DINING HALL

A well-worn dining hall.

CABINETS: Contain dishes, glasses, and silverware. All of that is normal, but the cabinets themselves are magical: If they are opened, telekinesis effects will set the table with a number of place settings equal to the number of people currently in the room.

CHEST OF SUSTENANCE: A simple cantrip on the large chest under the window on the south wall keeps food placed within it fresh.

AREA 4 – SUPPLY CLOSET

Contains alchemist’s supplies and spell components.

SPELL COMPONENTS: A generous supply for any spell of 5^th level or below, including:

• 100 gp pearls for identify (x12)
• lead-based ink for illusory script (100 gp worth)
• diamond dust for stoneskin and nondetection (1,500 gp worth)
• gold dust for arcane lock (300 gp worth)
• ruby dust for continual flame (600 gp worth)
• jade dust for magic mouth (100 gp worth)
• gilded skull for summon undead (300 gp)
• crushed black pearl powder for circle of death (1,000 gp worth)

AREA 5 – KITCHEN

A perfectly ordinary, well-stocked kitchen.

CELLAR DOOR: Trap door in the floor leads down to Area 24.

GM Background: The Red Magi keep trying to convince Madame Hammala (their cook and housekeeper) to let them “improve” the kitchen with various magical accoutrements. She refuses.

AREA 6 – GUILDHALL

A life-size jade statue of Kharos, God of Magic stands at the end of the hall before several rows of pews. It holds a tri-forked wand in his left hand and cradles a silver cat in the crook of his right arm. A crackling disc of blue energy three feet across stands directly in front of the statue. A basin stands in one corner of the room.

• DC 15 Wisdom: The cat is actually made from mithril and is worth 10,000 gp.

DISC OF BLUE ENERGY: A permanent floating disk on the floor in front Kharos’ statue. Anyone stepping on the disk will cause it to float 3 feet into the air.

• GM Background: Guild members will step onto the disk and become elevated while they speak to their fellow Red Magi.

BASIN OF WATER: A small basin filled with crystal clear water stands in the corner of the room. The basin is formed from the open mouth of a gaping, stylized dragon. It will purify any water placed within it, as per a purify food and water spell.

• GM Background: During guild meetings, members will ceremonially wash their face and hands at this basin before taking their seats.

AREA 7 – ARCHMAGE USTALLO

A long workbench stands along the western wall next to a low-slung divan with a hookah stand beside it. Several chests sit below the curve of the wall opposite. Two long bookshelves meet in the corner of the room beneath two paintings — one depicting a black dragon; the other a white dragon.

HOOKAH: Has 6 doses of abyss dust.

• GM Background: Ustallo is not yet addicted, but he does enjoy it.

PAINTINGS: DC 14 Intelligence (History) to recognize them as the work of Hashi, a very popular painter in the 620’s. They belong to a longer sequence known as the Chromatic Lightning, which features depictions of every type of dragon, each flying in a thunderstorm. Each painting is worth 500 gp.

BOOKS: An extensive research library on humanoid physiology. Grants advantage to diagnostic Heal checks.

SEARCH – DC 18 Wisdom (Perception): To detect a section of the wall brimming with magical potential. Pressing firmly against this magical potential causes a section of the wall to transform into a large, comfortable bed. Pressing the wall above the bed’s headboard causes the bed to re-merge with the wall.

GM Background: Archmage Ustallo also works as Guildmaster Arzan’s personal assistant.

AREA 8 – GUILDMASTER ARZAN

ALCHEMICAL LAB: A bubbling array of glass, copper, and alchemical concoctions are arrayed across two tables which fill the far wall of the chamber.

• There are notes detailing an effort to create an improved antitoxin (which would grant advantage to saving throws against poison for 1 day) based on a synthesis of chemicals found in the sting glands of a wyvern.
• DC 25 Intelligence (Alchemist’s Supplies): The entire approach is inherently flawed and was first tried by the Master Alchemist Tirnet Kal several centuries ago (although this is only detailed in obscure partial quotations from the Observations of Alchemical Reductions and the Deductions Therof, a book that was lost several centuries ago). (This check is made with a +10 bonus if the character has studied a copy of this lost work, which is available in the Complex of Zombies.)

DESK: A massive, curved desk with a high-backed chair of red velvet topped with a gold-gilted dragon stands before a broad window looking out across the front lawn of the manse.

• On the desktop are Reports from the Researchers on Crossing Street (see handouts).
• SEARCH – DC 12 Wisdom (Perception): A false bottom to one of the drawers contains an iron lockbox (DC 16 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)). It contains 60 gp, an alexandrite (300 gp), a chrysoprase (20 gp), a white opal (6,000 gp), a red-brown spinel (80 gp), a moss agate (11 gp), and a violet garnet (800 gp).

FIRETHORN BONSAI: On a decorative table in the corner near the window, there is a bonsai tree with small, dark red fruits. This is a firethorn bonsai. At night, the fruits have the appearance of being on fire.

• GM Background: This tree was taken from a cutting of the firethorn tree on the front lawn of the manse.

SEARCH – DC 18 Wisdom (Perception): To detect a section of the wall brimming with magical potential. Pressing firmly against this magical potential causes a section of the wall to transform into a large, comfortable bed. Pressing the wall above the bed’s headboard causes the bed to re-merge with the wall.

AREA 9 – RESPITE UNDER THE STAIR

A circular table with a scarred surface and several equally well-worn chairs are gathered in the corner of the open room at the base of some stairs heading up. A silver pitcher with a mouth formed like the head of a swan sits in the middle of the table, surrounded by some wooden cups.

SILVER EWER: Magically enchanted so that it is always full of a sweet, strawberry-tinted mead.

BROKEN BOOKCASE: Stored back behind the stairs.

AREA 10 – THE LOWER TOWER

Several large crates have been stacked at the base of a spiral staircase of white sandstone.

CRATES: Contain three set of alchemist’s supplies and 20,000 gp worth of material for creating magical items.

Go to Part 13C: Magi Guildhouse – 2nd Floor

Go to Table of Contents

The Red Company of Magi is a wizard’s guild directly under the control of Aliaster Vladaam. Although relatively small by some standards, in the shadow of the Inverted Pyramid, the Red Company of Magi is one of the largest groups of organized spellcrafting in Ptolus.

The group is ostensibly dedicated to research, but the junior members of the company are deeply enmeshed into the illegal activities of the Vladaam family (providing arcane might where and when it’s necessary). The company’s dedication to research is not entirely a sham, however: The senior members of the company – referred to as “Archmages” – are often pursuing arcane research.

IMPERIUMS

Any Archmage (including Aliaster) can issue an “imperium” to a junior guild member which they must obey.

This concept, however, is also a broader invocation of the lines of authority that exist within the guild: One who has “imperium” over another in either a specific field of study; their mastery of the arcane arts; or within the guild hierarchy itself. It’s a core philosophical underpinning of the Red Magi which dates back to Flambara.

GUILD MEMBERSHIP

GUILDMASTER ARZAN

ARCHMAGES (7)

• Verack (out of town)
• Cretai
• Ustallo
• Tiant
• Imogen
• Aldyck
• Arawa (keeps a house in Rivergate)

VLADAAM MAGES (15)

• 4 at Red Company of Magi
• 3 at Curse Dens
• 1 at Red Company of Fletchers (Part 10: Dreadwood Grove)
• 2 at Red Company of Goldsmiths (night guards)
• 3 on Slave Trade Ships
• 2 at Slave Trade Warehouse

VLADAAM RESEARCHERS (8)

• 4 at Red Company of Magi
• 4 at Oldtown Apartments

DENIZENS – RED COMPANY OF MAGI

GUILD GATHERING: 10% chance that the entire guild (+5 Vladaam Mages, +2 Vladaam Researchers) are present in Area 6 for a guild meeting.

¹ Any given archmage has a 75% chance of being present.
² 50% chance that Archmage Cretai is intoxicated on abyss dust.
³ 25% chance that Archmage Arawa is present.

Vladaam Mage: Use mage stats, MM 2014, p. 347.

Vladaam Researcher: Use acolyte stats, MM 2014, p. 342.

Archmages: See Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

• Cretai – Diviner (VGM 213)
• Ustallo – Transmuter (VGM 218)
• Tiant – Evoker (VGM 214)
• Imogen – Illusionist (VGM 214)
• Aldyck – Enchanter (VGM 213)
• Araawa – Conjurer (VGM 212)
• Verack – Necromancer (VGM 217), absent (see Area 14)

GUILDMASTER ARZAN

Guildmaster Arzan: Use archmage stats, MM 2014, p. 342.

• Lawful Evil
• AC 15 (18 with mage armor)
• Languages: Common, Old Prustan, Draconic, Elvish, Elder Elvish, Orcish
• War Caster: Arzan has practiced casting spells in the midst of combat. He gains advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on a spell when taking damage. He can perform somatic components of spells even when he has a weapon or shield in one or both hands. When a hostile creature provokes an attack of opportunity from Arzan, he can use his reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. (The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.

Combat Equipment

• potion of healing (superior)
• wand of magic missiles
• scrolls: cone of cold (7th level), dispel magic, polymorph, wall of ice

Other Possessions: bracers of defense, ring of protection, cane, hand crossbow (20 bolts), scroll case, diamond dust (250 gp), 100 gp pearl (x2), 100 gp, Vladaam deot ring, Red Magi tattoo

Oldtown
End Street – C8

EXTERIOR

The view from the guildhouse is beautiful, directly off the edge of Dalen’s Cliffs and out across the vast expanse of southern grasslands.

MANSE: The manse itself is built of pale blue stone.

YARD: The yard is planted with ghost grass – a pale, translucent grass of remarkable strength. (A shirt woven from properly treated ghost grass is as protective as a chain shirt.)

JADE ROSES: The path leading from the street to the front of the manse is lined with jade rose bushes. (Jade roses are a dark green in color and the petals of the bloom are as hard as the stone from which they take their name.)

FIRETHORN TREE: A single tree stands a few dozen paces from End Street (as shown on the street map). At night, the small, dark red fruits of the tree had the appearance of being on fire (due to the magical evolution of the tree itself).

FRONT ENTRANCE

The front doors, located beneath an upper balcony (Area 15), are flanked to either side by a pearl golem. Each golem has the appearance of Guildmaster Arzan, except that the face is a flat, blank, polished plane.

GUILDMASTER’S EYES: These golems are synced with the current guildmaster. By uttering a command word, they can look through either or both of the golems’ eyes. When he does so, his features replace their blank faces.

Go to Part 13B: Magi Guildhouse – 1st Floor

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 45C: Long Reign of the Sun

Ranthir was examining the magical guards laid upon the plug. Eventually he concluded that their initial suspicions had been correct: Only at night could the plug be opened. The spell was ancient, but still potent – only a powerful wish would remove the plug.

“So when we get the wish spell from Rehobath do we use it on the sealed door at the Banewarrens?” Elestra asked. “Or do we use it here?”

“I think we need to use it at the Banewarrens,” Tor said. “We know how to get through this plug. We just have to wait for dark. But there may not be any other way through the sealed door.”

“Except the key,” Tee said.

“A key that may not exist any more. Or that we may never find.”

They debated staying until nightfall and then going into the tomb. But there was trepidation about staying in the Necropolis after dark without proper preparations.

And then Tee realized that they couldn’t stay: The note they had discovered in the Temple of the Rat God describing some sort of shipment at Mahdoth’s Asylum was dated for midnight. They couldn’t afford to be trapped inside the Necropolis while that kind of known activity was happening.

A dynamic I’ve found it can be difficult to understand if you’re only familiar with linear forms of play is the mixture of pressure and opportunity created when the PCs are pursuing multiple agendas.

At the beginning of this session, for example, the PCs had just barely managed to escape from overwhelming opposition at Porphyry House. In a linear campaign or scenario, they would’ve needed to immediately turn around and attack Porphyry House again. If they were clever, they might find some new way of tackling the problem, but ultimately this would be the one and only thing available for them to do.

In this case, however, the PCs have a bunch of irons in the fire. To mix idioms a bit, they’re free to let Porphyry House simmer for a bit while they pull a different iron out of the fire. It’s a powerful dynamic because it prevents the campaign from slamming to a halt when it meets an unexpected roadblock. By exploring other options, maybe the PCs can find resources or opportunities that can remove the roadblock. Combined with something like node-based scenario design or xandered dungeons, the PCs might find some way of routing around the roadblock. When you’re playing in a system like D&D where the PCs can become much more powerful, they may just level up to a point where the roadblock ceases to be an impediment.

On the other hand, at the end of this session, the PCs are forced to put a pin in their plans to explore Alchestrin’s Tomb because they have other agendas that are demanding their attention. They need to prioritize their goals and figure out the most efficient way they can be pursued with the time and resources that they have.

Linear adventures and single-threaded campaigns, of course, can be designed to include some form of time pressure. (“You have to rescue the princess before the blood moon rises!”) What’s most notable about the multi-threaded campaign, though, is that the GM doesn’t actually have to plan this stuff. At no point in my prep, for example, did I ever say, “Ah! I’ll schedule the shipment to Mahdoth’s Asylum so that it arrives at the same time they’re checking out Alchestrin’s Tomb!”

Because, among other reasons, I had no idea when the PCs might actually go and check out Alchestrin’s Tomb. There’s another version of reality where their assault on Porphyry House didn’t turn into a clusterfuck. In that other world, the PCs might have spent the whole afternoon burning through resources while clearing out the whorehouse, only to reach the evening and realize that they would need to deal with whatever was happening at Mahdoth’s while being severely depleted by the day’s events. Or maybe they’d realize they couldn’t shoot both barrels into Porphyry House and instead pull out early (puns intended) to conserve their resources for Mahdoth’s. Either way, those are also compelling strategic choices and consequences!

So if I’m not planning specific pressure points or forcing specific choices, what am I doing to make this happen?

1. Any time there’s an upcoming event in the campaign, whether the PCs know about it or not, I make sure to assign it a specific date and time.
2. I keep track of the passage of time.

That’s it.

When scheduling events, I notably don’t really think about how they interact with unrelated events in the campaign. I don’t need to. The various scheduled events and the actions of the PCs will naturally combine and interact with each other during play, and pressure will simply emerge organically from the mix.

This principle is a good example of how, in my experience, loosening your grip on the campaign, empowering the PCs, and actively playing the game world is actually a lot easier for the GM than trying to force a single-threaded chain of events. Partly because you don’t need to force it. Mostly because you’re no longer solely responsible for everything that happens.

The other effect of multi-threading like this, of course, is that stuff will tend to hang around. The PCs first learned of Alchestrin’s Tomb in Session 35. They tried to visit in Session 36, but got waylaid by a false crypt. Then they got waylaid by other pressing concerns for several days, only returning here in Session 45. And it won’t be until Session 48 that they can come back and actually get inside for the first time.

Can this be frustrating? Yes. But it’s a good frustration. It’s the frustration of solving a puzzle or plotting out the perfect turn in a board game. And, of course, it’s not like nothing was happening during those other sessions! During that time, the players were pursuing and achieving other goals that were important to them.

But even as they’re doing those other things, the sense of anticipation is building. Content isn’t being chewed up as soon as it’s introduced. It naturally endures, weaving its way into a more complicated narrative. It was a full year of time in the real world from when they heard about Alchestrin’s Tomb to when they actually entered into the tomb. Which meant that entering the tomb felt momentous.

Which, in turn means, that the feeling of reward when these long-lasting goals come to fruition is also greater.

This dynamic also has an interesting effect on things like the Principles of RPG Villainy. Extending the players’ relationships with villains over time just naturally gets them more deeply invested in that antagonism. The agenda pressure that naturally emerges from multi-threaded campaigns also means that truly memorable villains also just kind of naturally develop themselves. (As do relationships with faction, NPCs, and other facets of the campaign.)

Campaign Journal: Session 46A – Running the Campaign: Ex Post Facto Roleplaying
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

SESSION 45C: LONG REIGN OF THE SUN

October 31st, 2009
The 25th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

After several long minutes, the homunculus emerged from the cloud of black pollen that blotted out much of the hill. They waited the better part of half an hour for the last of the poisonous vapor to blow away.

Mounting the hill again, they easily reached its apex. Set into the ground at the center of the stone circle they found a large iron plug etched with bronze and set into the earth. The bronze etching detailed Alchestrin’s sigil. Around the perimeter of the plug was an inscription written in characters Ranthir identified as ancient Arathian. With the aid of a spell he was able to translate the passage:

Forevermore shall the sun be my foe.

From its light I pass forever.

The doors of my realm shall not open as long as its reign lasts.

“Does that mean what I think it means?” Tor asked.

“That we can’t get in unless it’s night?” Tee said. “Yeah. I think so.”

Indeed, the plug wouldn’t move. Ranthir tried bathing the area in a magical darkness and they experimented with other coverings to block the sunlight, but none of it worked. Elestra then tried to send her homonculus down into the ground, in an effort to circumvent the plug, but they weren’t able to clearly communicate with it or determine if it had found anything.

Eventually they hunted down a shovel from a gravekeeper a fair distance away. Returning to the hill they dug down around the edges of the iron plug, only to find that it was set into a smooth-faced iron shaft that also resisted their efforts to penetrate it.

Meanwhile, Ranthir was examining the magical guards laid upon the plug. Eventually he concluded that their initial suspicions had been correct: Only at night could the plug be opened. The spell was ancient, but still potent – only a powerful wish would remove the plug.

“So when we get the wish spell from Rehobath do we use it on the sealed door at the Banewarrens?” Elestra asked. “Or do we use it here?”

“I think we need to use it at the Banewarrens,” Tor said. “We know how to get through this plug. We just have to wait for dark. But there may not be any other way through the sealed door.”

“Except the key,” Tee said.

“A key that may not exist any more. Or that we may never find.”

They debated staying until nightfall and then going into the tomb. But there was trepidation about staying in the Necropolis after dark without proper preparations.

And then Tee realized that they couldn’t stay: The note they had discovered in the Temple of the Rat God describing some sort of shipment at Mahdoth’s Asylum was dated for midnight. They couldn’t afford to be trapped inside the Necropolis while that kind of known activity was happening.

“We were just deputized, after all.”

Running the Campaign: Agenda Pressure – Campaign Journal: Session 46A
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index